Trump again states his case on Russia: ‘It could be other people also’

U.S. President Donald Trump said he accepts the “intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election took place.”

However, he added: “It could be other people also. A lot of people out there.”

U.S. President Donald Trump says he ‘gave up nothing’ to Russia at last week’s summit in Helsinki. / Reuters

Democrats in Congress dismissed the statement acknowledging Moscow interfered in the election as political damage control following last week’s Helsinki Summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump says he “gave up nothing” at the summit.

The president tweeted on July 23: “When you hear the Fake News talking negatively about my meeting with President Putin, and all that I gave up, remember, I gave up NOTHING, we merely talked about future benefits for both countries. Also, we got along very well, which is a good thing, except for the Corrupt Media!”

Russia claims it did not interfere in the election.

Three days before the Trump-Putin summit in Helsinki, U.S. authorities charged 12 Russian military intelligence officers whom they accuse of direct involvement in the election-meddling efforts.

In a July 22 tweet, Trump had said: “So President Obama knew about Russia before the Election. Why didn’t he do something about it? Why didn’t he tell our campaign? Because it is all a big hoax, that’s why, and he thought Crooked Hillary was going to win!!!”

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders later said that Trump was referring to the issue of whether his campaign colluded with Moscow, not to Russian meddling in the election.

“Obviously the president is talking about the collusion with his campaign,” Sanders said. “He’s been very clear that there wasn’t any. I think he’s said it about 1,000 times.”